Memory Cleanup on Xiaomi: How to Free Up Space and Remove 'Other'

Xiaomi smartphone owners often face a situation where internal storage is crowded and the system insists on vacating space, especially the “Other” or “System Data” category, which can take up tens of gigabytes while remaining invisible to standard analysis tools, is not just temporary files, but a complex dataset that includes app cache, remnants of deleted programs, error logs and temporary update files.

Android, based on MIUI or HyperOS, is designed to cache data to speed up work, but over time, this mechanism begins to work against the user. The accumulation of garbage occurs unnoticed: you watch videos in your browser, flip through social media feeds or edit documents, and all these actions leave traces. If you do not perform regular hygiene of the device, the smartphone will start to work slower, and new applications will cease to be installed.

In this article, we will explore not only standard cleaning methods, but also deep ways to work with the file system that will help you return precious gigabytes. You will learn which folders can be deleted without risk to the system, how to use embedded tools correctly, and why manual deletion of files is sometimes more effective than any “accelerators”.

Analysis of storage occupancy and search for hidden volumes

Before you start taking drastic measures, you need to determine exactly what is taking up space. The standard memory analyzer in Xiaomi settings often shows only the big picture, hiding the real “eaters” of space. First, go to Settings → About Phone → Storage. Here you will see a color diagram where each sector is responsible for a certain type of data.

However, the built-in analyzer can be inaccurate. Often applications like Telegram or TikTok show a modest size in the system settings, although they have actually grown to a small size. 10-20 GB with a cache of media files. To see the real picture, you'd better use specialized utilities or file managers with visualization, such as DiskUsage or Total Commander. These tools build a memory card where the square size corresponds to the file or folder size.

Note folders that don’t appear in the standard list: these can be remote games (remains), debugging logs or temporary files after a system update. The ext4 file system used in Android doesn’t always automatically free up space after large files are deleted if the process is interrupted or crashed. Visualization helps to find such blind spots.

It's important to understand the difference between user data and system files. If you see that the "Applications" category takes up little space and the "Other" category takes up almost all the space, the problem lies in the cache and temporary files, in which case a simple reboot of the device sometimes helps the system to recalculate the indexes and free up space, but more often manual intervention is required.

Deep cleaning of cache and work with system debris

The most effective way to free up space quickly is to work with the app cache. Unlike data, deleting the cache won’t cause logins or game progress, but it can remove gigabytes of temporary images and scripts. Go to Settings → Apps → All apps, select a heavy app (like Chrome or YouTube) and click Clear → Clear cache.

But mass cleaning through the settings can take a long time, and a more advanced method is to use the Security Cleanup mode, which is pre-installed on all Xiaomis, run the scan, wait until it finishes, and look carefully at the files proposed for removal, and the system will find the files (remnants of deleted applications) and large files that you may have forgotten.

Be careful with the "Accelerate" feature in the notification curtain. Although it frees up RAM, it doesn't always clean internal storage effectively. For deep cleaning, you'd better use the "Clean" section inside the Security app. There are separate tabs for large files, duplicate photos and unused applications.

⚠️ Warning: Never clear the cache of system applications such as Google Play Services or System Framework if you are not sure what you are doing, which can cause interface failures or account sync loss.

Special attention should be paid to the browser cache. If you are actively using the Internet, the browser can store hundreds of megabytes of data. In the browser settings (Chrome, Mi Browser), find the item "History" or "Privacy" and choose to clear the cache and cookies. This will not delete your saved passwords if they are synchronized with the account, but will remove temporary site files.

Working with messengers: Telegram, WhatsApp and Viber

The leaders in space consumption on any smartphone, including Xiaomi, are messengers. Telegram, for example, by default downloads and stores all the photos and videos you viewed. To fix this, open Telegram, go to Settings → Data and memory → Memory Use. Here you can click “Clear Cache” and, more importantly, configure autodeletion.

Set the “Maximum Cache Size” option in the value 200-500 MB, and the slider "Save in the gallery" to turn off, this will prevent duplicate media files: they will be stored in the Telegram cloud and download only on demand, without taking up space in the memory of the phone forever. Similar settings are available on WhatsApp (Settings) → Data and storage) and Viber.

WhatsApp has a similar situation, but it has a convenient storage management feature. Go to Settings → Data and Storage → Storage Management. The system will show a list of chats, sorted by the amount of space occupied, you can select a specific chat and delete all files older than a week or a month, leaving text correspondence intact.

Remember download folders. Messengers often save the received documents to the MIUI/Download or Android/media folder. Check these directories regularly through the file manager. If you receive an important file, move it to the cloud or computer, and delete the original.

Cleaning the “Other” folder and system data

The “Other” category is a headache for many Xiaomi users, where the system adds everything it can’t uniquely classify: streaming cache (Netflix, Spotify), offline navigator maps, error logs, temporary update files and remnants of remote applications. There is no direct “Clean Another” button, but there are proven methods of fighting.

The first step is to check the folders of streaming services, applications like Spotify or Yandex.Music save music for offline listening to hidden folders, and if you stop using the playlist, it is better to delete downloads inside the application itself, rather than through the file manager, so as not to disrupt the structure of the application database.

Another source for "Other" is the gallery cart and cloud services. On Xiaomi, deleted photos are often stored in the cart for 30 days. Go to the Gallery → Albums → Deleted and clean them. Also check Google Photos: if sync is enabled, deleted photos can stay in the cloud basket, occupying a quota of Google One, which indirectly affects the sync operation.

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Use the Cleanup feature in Xiaomi’s Explorer app, which can find similar images and screenshots that are often duplicated and take up space, but don’t always fall into the Other category.

If nothing works, you can try resetting the settings of the app eaters. Go to the settings of a particular app that takes up a lot in the Other category and select Clear Data. Attention: this will delete all the app data, including the logins, so make sure you remember the passwords.

Using ADB for Advanced Cleaning

For users who aren’t afraid of a computer, the most powerful tool is Android Debug Bridge (ADB). This method allows you to remove system debris and cache that is not available in the usual way, without obtaining Root-rights, USB-cable and installed drivers ADB.

First enable USB debugging on your phone: Settings → About Phone → 7 times click on MIUI Version, then in Advanced Settings → For Developers, turn on USB Debugging. Connect your phone to your PC and type a command to clear the batch manager cache, which often “blowns up”:

adb shell pm trim-caches 999999999999

This command forcibly trims the cache of all applications to the lowest possible value, and you can use ADB to remove Xiaomi system applications that you don't need and can't be removed in the usual way (e.g. Mi Video, Mi Music, if you don't use them), which will free up not only space, but also CPU resources.

⚠️ Be very careful when removing system packets through ADB. Removing critical components (such as Security Center or SystemUI) can result in an infinite bootloop and require the device to flash over.

Another useful command is to clean logs: Enter adb logcat -c to clear log buffers in real time, or use adb shell pm clear com.android.package.name to completely clean the data of a particular application from your computer. This is especially convenient when the phone interface is getting stuck and does not respond to touch.

Prevention and automation of service

To keep the memory problem from returning, you need to have automatic maintenance. MIUI has a built-in task scheduler, but it doesn't always work correctly. It's better to use third-party, but proven solutions or automation scripts.

Set up automatic cleaning in messengers, as described above. That's 80% success, and also set a rule: once a week, connect your phone to Wi-Fi and open the Gallery so that it can sync and delete local copies of cloud photos (if you use storage optimization).

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Regularly restarting your smartphone (at least once every 3-4 days) helps the Android system correctly complete background processes and release blocked temporary files that would otherwise remain in the “Other” category.

Avoid installing the Play Market’s shady cleaners. They are often the source of advertising and garbage. Xiaomi’s built-in cleaner and a competent manual messenger policy are enough to keep order. Remember that a filled storage (over 90%) slows down flash memory, so keep at least 10-15% of the space free.